Coalpail.com Forum

So, I had some free time last night and decided to give my power venter a good cleaning. I figured it would be better to mess with it in June than to try and do it when it gets cold. My bad for not doing it once I shut the stove off in early Spring, but oh well. Anyway, I hit both sides with the vacuum cleaner and got as much ash as I could out of it. I also oiled it. But, when I turned it on it didn't seem to be drawing air as strong as it did when the stove was running. I'm not sure if it's because it is hot and humid now, or if I need to actually dismantle the unit from the wall and do a more thorough cleaning. It's only a year old. How is everyone else servicing their units? Thanks

About your power venter,

You need to dissmantle the power venter and clean the soot and fly ash will stick to everything and it will resist being vacuumed off. Soak each part in Dawn dish soap and hot water and then scrub it with a potato brush or if you have an ultrasonic parts cleaner use some Dawn Dish Soap in the water which will be all that much better to clean it.

I would not take the squirrel cage fan off of the motor or be very careful if you do. It is fragile and likely rusted to the shaft if you did not take it off almost immediately after it cooled down. As you may have realized or been told fly ash is VERY corrosive. I made that mistake once damaging the fan. I ended up replacing the whole fan. Penetrating oil may help if you are set on taking it apart.
I clean mine as best as i can with a wire bush, stiff paint brush and air from my compressor to blow it out. Then put the whole thing in an air conditioned environment for the summer. DO NOT leave it installed during the summer. I remove the stove pipe and put a plastic container lid over the opening to keep heat and "visitors" out. I have been using the same motor for 5-6 years now just doing that.
I also do this at least once during the burning season. I heat 2200 sq. with a single stove so it works hard when it is real cold so I try to do a good cleaning after every 1-1.5 ton.

I meant fan and motor